Denmark halts AstraZeneca’s Covid shots over blood clot, 6th country to do so

Denmark has decided to temporarily halt the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after some patients developed blood clots since receiving the jab.

The move came “following reports of serious cases of blood clots among people vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine”, the Danish Health Authority said in a statement on Thursday.

It, however, emphasised that “it has not been determined, at the time being, that there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots”.

Austria had announced on Monday that it had suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines after a 49-year-old nurse died of “severe blood coagulation problems” days after receiving an anti-Covid shot. Four other European nations—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxemburg—also suspended the use of vaccines from this batch, which was sent to 17 European countries and consisting of one million jabs. Denmark has however suspended the use of all of its AstraZeneca supply.

As of 9 March, 22 cases of blood clots had been reported among more than three million people vaccinated in the European Economic Area, Europe’s medicines watchdog EMA said.

“It is important to point out that we have not terminated the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, we are just pausing its use,” Danish Health Authority director Soren Brostrom said in the statement.

The suspension, which will be reviewed after two weeks, is expected to slow down Denmark’s vaccination campaign.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS